1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of interactive communication and more specifically relates to the creation and delivery of messages to a message recipient from multiple message originators via a customizable communications platform.
2. Background Art
Most schools, commercial businesses, government agencies, municipalities, cities, counties, and other organizations frequently find it useful to communicate various messages to their constituencies (e.g., owners, managers, employees, workers, students, parents, teachers, etc.). Since communication in the world today encompasses much more than simple messaging tasks such as phone calls and letters, many entities are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the desired level of communication with their constituencies.
Some of the main problems that hamper efforts to create an environment of effective communication and typically lead to ineffective and/or inefficient communication are driven by information overload and technology. Since there are so many available communication mediums and messaging platforms available, it may be somewhat complicated to get the desired message to the desired audience. For example, in addition to traditional “snail mail” and telephone communication, email, Skype®, Twitter®, Facebook®, Tumblr®, Instagram®, Google Chat®, Google+®, etc. are all relatively new communication methods that have been developed in recent years. Each of these communication platforms has a unique specific interface and protocol and, where there are multiple recipients for a given message, it can be time consuming and somewhat problematic to select and format the message for each possible combination of message recipients and possible communication platforms.
Additionally, even if the correct messaging format and delivery schedule for a given message recipient have been identified, many message recipients have established messaging relationships with multiple entities and each entity may have a different application for establishing the communication channel with the message recipient. In some cases, this means a message recipient may need to set up a separate account with separate login credentials and account information being required for each account. Not only is this inconvenient for the message recipient, this practically ensures that data redundancy will be introduced into one or more of the disparate accounts for a given message recipient as the message recipient changes phone numbers, addresses, etc.
Finally, many message recipients are increasingly hesitant to share their contact information with multiple potential message originators due to the increased probability of receiving unsolicited messages or “spam” or out of a fear that their contact information may be inadvertently exposed to unintended third parties, thereby compromising their digital identity. Accordingly, without improvements in the current systems, procedures, and methods for the communication of messages from a message originator to a message recipient, the ability to effectively and efficiently provide important messages to the desired constituency will continue to be sub-optimal.